Custodial costs are one of the easiest services Facility Managers can benchmark. What makes it so easy is that for most FM’s it is a contact with a readily definable scope. The information you need to benchmark is the:
Step 1 – Collect your custodial cost data and the area cleaned.
For benchmarking purposes we will normalize the data (Cost/Area Cleaned to determine each participant’s Custodial Cost/SF
Cost of the custodial services including:
- Janitorial
- Window Cleaning
- Custodial Uniform Cleaning
- Other
- Costs charged to other depts.
- Administration
- Supplies & Materials
- Tools
- Labor
Area cleaned
Cleaning is defined as a routine process on a regular basis that is performed by custodial staff. If you have measured the area cleaned for contractual purposes or other reasons then use that value.
Step 2 – How Do I Compare With Others…
Once this information is collected it is easy to normalize the data on a unit cost basis to determine how efficiently the cleaning process is being handled. One of the cleaning cost charts in the Facility Managers Roundtable Group would look like this…
Each bar on the chart represents a site cost per cleanable square foot. Of noteworthy interest is how consistent the cost structure looks for participants – there are only a couple of sites with very low or very high costs. About half of the participants can be grouped in the range between $1.00 and $2.00 per cleanable square foot. You may also have noticed the diamond symbols on secondary axes. These are customer satisfaction values from the occupancy survey
For nearly any organization, labor represents between 90 and 95 percent of the custodial costs. So a most useful way to determine why your costs are high, low, or about right is to look at the staffing levels.
Step 3 – Using This Information…
You’ve completed your custodial data collection and performed the calculations. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself…
- Where do you stand on this chart? Are you above the median or below it?
- Could you explain to management why your position on the chart is just right or needs to be changed?
- What are some of the reasons that explain your position on the chart?
Step 4 – Some Best Practices…
- Look at your cleaning frequencies to validate your staffing levels. Most of the custodial cost is labor so you need to understand the appropriate staffing level.
- Understand your service frequencies. Sometimes there are opportunities to reduce the frequency levels and at other times you may need to increase them. Are you dusting your offices once a day. Benchmarking survey data shows the most common dusting frequency is once per week. This data can help support your decisions to make changes.
- Look for improved technology to increase productivity. Riding sweepers, power washers, back-pack vacuums are several tools used by our best performers to improve productivity, reduce costs, and improve service.
Metrics from the Facility Managers Round Table (FMRT)
In 2007 there were 60 unique sites in the FMRT with a median size of about 1,500,000 million square feet.